Re: How much should Odoo documentation cost

by

Hertford Developments Limited, Kurt Haselwimmer

- 09/04/2014 07:45:59

Timothy,

java, python, ruby - all opensourced 'projects' yet the books on them fill the shelves in bookstores, let alone amazon. Just about the only area of publishing that is still expanding. If people don't want to pay for the documentation then they don't have to. Odoo is not forcing anyone to buy a book, but if the author cannot be paid it just will not happen and useful knowledge will stay locked up in the silos of a few developers minds. Why are so many in the odoo community so wedded to the assumption that everything needs to be done the 'open-source' way.

The insistence by some in the community that everything is done for free is what has led to such a dire position as far as documentation goes. The only people benefiting from all this are SAP and Netsuite who maybe cannot believe their luck that the odoo documentation situation gives them such a free ride.

Maybe the time for Odoo to grow up a bit perhaps ?

Kurt

Opensource system, paid for documentation. Sorry, that sounds like a really bad idea to me!

The documentation should be opensource (perhaps crowdsourced like wikipedia)

Why dont you rather send your valuable time writing a good ebook on how to use the different functions of openerp for specific business needs. I would buy a book like that.

If you want a continuous crowdsourced income instead of a one-time campaign, look at gratipay (ex gittip) and patreon. But nobody will pay you without any assurance about the work and its quality, at least an example free chapter is essential.